


coffee shop woes

by jemmasimns



Series: coffee shop woes [1]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, coffee AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 20:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2554538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jemmasimns/pseuds/jemmasimns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carmilla, for as long as she had known, did not fall in love easily. There had been times where someone would make her feel safe, close, a warmth she was not familiar with, but never like this. Not at a coffee shop. Not at her coffee shop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	coffee shop woes

**Author's Note:**

> this is a prompt fill from tumblr! enjoy x
> 
> EDIT (1/12/15): This is basically a prologue for my multichapter fic Order Up, Cupcake, but by no way is it necessary reading. Either way, enjoy!

Carmilla, for as long as she had known, did not fall in love easily. There had been times where someone would make her feel safe, close, a warmth she was not familiar with, but never like this. Not at a coffee shop. Not at her coffee shop.

It had started as nothing, really. The girl had started coming in someday last June, July maybe. (Carmilla knew it was June, but she liked to muddle the dates, she wasn’t clingy!) She would wait patiently in the back of the line for what seemed like hours behind streams of much faster college students, and eventually waddle up to the counter where she’d flash Carmilla a grin and order some variant of a coffee coolatta. At first Carmilla thought the girl just liked to change things up, but, in truth, Laura just couldn’t remember what she ordered last time.

Carmilla had thought she was cute. That was all. Just a cute college girl with short legs and perfect teeth and a lopsided smile and an infectious laugh and (Carmilla would stop herself here, if she were talking aloud), and sometimes, if she was sleep-deprived enough, it almost seemed like Laura was flirting with her.

“It’s 2AM,” Carmilla said that one night. Their chain was one of those famous all-night coffee shops, but Carmilla rarely ever saw anyone after 1. It was kind of an unspoken rule: if you’re up at 2AM, then you probably shouldn’t be drinking coffee.

“I know,” Laura sighed, defeated, her hands barely hanging onto her dirty laptop case. Carmilla smirked; she couldn’t help herself, really.

“So what will it be, cupcake?” Carmilla flirted harmlessly. It was late. She was tired. Laura was attractive. Things start adding up after a while, it seems.

A little taken aback, Laura’s hands fiddled nervously and she nearly dropped her computer. Breathing heavily, she regained her composure and caught it just in time, slowly rising up again to meet Carmilla’s smirking face

“Uh…” Laura smiled nervously, her cheeks slightly flushed, “I honestly don’t know. Anything with caffeine, please.”

“You do realize this is a coffee shop, right?” Carmilla mocked, her grin widening, “everything we sell has caffeine. Maybe besides the donuts.”

Laura laughed, “Anything but a donut, then?”

“Hm,” Carmilla twirled around smoothly, her black wedges tapping against the floor, producing the only sound in the shop. The silence was almost deafening, besides the occasional jingle of the doorbell or the winds outside, but it was nice. It was okay. She slid over to the coffee machine and pushed a few buttons, and the smooth brown liquid poured into the cup with a hum.

“One Carmilla surprise,” Carmilla clicked her tongue, “to order.”

“Carmilla surprise?” Laura giggled, batting her eyelashes sleepily and offering the other girl an affectionate grin.

“Yeah yeah,” Carmilla rolled her eyes.

 

***

 

They settled into this kind of rhythm, Carmilla thinks. Laura made it a habit to always come in at the same time: the oddly specific 8pm. Laura would later explain that her schedule was a mess - something something journalism never sleeps something something - and that she needed caffeine to pull her seemingly daily allnighters. Nevertheless, Carmilla isn’t that great with change, so she enjoyed the pace. Laura would come in, sporting a ridiculously giddy smile and a varying amount of sleep deprivation, slide up to the counter, ask for the “Carmilla special” and slip a generous tip across the counter.

Carmilla hadn’t realized how truly she had fell into this rhythm until the day it was interrupted, however.

It was only 8:15 when she got uneasy. It was a slow, rainy day, so she didn’t have any bustle and hustle to distract herself from the disappearance of her favorite customer. Eight o'clock wasn’t exactly early, either-  things got dark around six. She clicked mindlessly through her phone, her mind racing with terrible scenarios that could have involved the tiny and oh so confident girl.

The chimes on her door rung.

Her head immediately picked up, a worried smile plastered on her face, “Laura?”

Blinking hazily, she discerned the unkind face of a trenchcoat-clad, middle age man. Her smile quickly disappeared, replaced with a polite poker face.

“What can I get you?”

“Anything with caffeine, please,” he joked.

Carmilla could feel her stomach churn, and this time she knew why.

 

***

Carmilla almost called in sick to work the next day. Almost.

The day was rainy, mucky, disgusting; something in Carmilla almost felt like the feelings inside her had manifested so much that they had plagued the weather. The doors to the coffee shop were moist and she ran her gloved fingers down them as she twisted her key in the lock. The feeling in her stomach hadn’t subsided the least bit, and, if she’s being truthful, she thought it may never.

Her boss waved to her politely at the front desk, forcing a smile before tying his apron and disappearing into the back room. She sighed and clicked open the register, staring at all the money that wasn’t hers.

The door chimed, and she took a brief look at her watch. 8:00 AM. The number made her feel squeamish.

“One CS, please,” a hoarse voice coughed out. Carmilla, not recognizing the tone, frowned.

“Can you repeat that, please?” she asked impatiently, not looking up to meet the customer’s face. She deserved to be rude once and a while, she thought.

The customer laughed hoarsely, “I was trying to be cute, Carm.”

She raised her head.

Carmilla didn’t laugh, she gasped.

“Laura,” her breathing stopped.

“Hi,” Laura smiled lopsidedly, her cheeks drained of their usual color. She had contracted something, obviously.

“I was so- I was,” Carmilla felt her words catch in her mouth. In an act of panic, she reached over the countertop and embraced Laura in her arms and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead. She felt Laura stiffen, and she almost let go, but then Laura enwrapped her with the same tightness.

“It’s okay,” Laura breathed in her ear, “I missed you too.”


End file.
